


finding the things we can't live without

by prettylittlesestras



Category: Pitch Perfect (Movies)
Genre: Bechloe Week, Bechloe Week 2019, Co-workers, Co-workers AU, Coworkers - Freeform, Coworkers AU, F/F, Pitch Perfect 2, Pitch Perfect 3, Pitch Perfect AU, bechloe - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-23
Updated: 2019-08-23
Packaged: 2020-07-11 17:31:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,858
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19931839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/prettylittlesestras/pseuds/prettylittlesestras
Summary: beca is a new teacher at barden elementary, and chloe is the first teacher to become friends with herco-workers au written for bechloe week 2019, day 2 -- co-workers





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> i actually started writing this fic over a year ago for bechloe week 2018, and i liked it so much that i didn't publish it then because i felt like it would've been rushed. i kind of feel like it's my baby since i've worked on it for so long and i think about it so much. this is the first installment of what will become a multi-chapter fic, and i hope you enjoy!

Chloe turns off her car’s engine and sighs, her red ‘86 Volkswagen Beetle showing its age as the engine screeches to a halt, and a rattling noise persists for at least five seconds after she’s removed the key from the ignition. It's what she can afford on a teacher's salary, but if she's being honest, Chloe still loves her car just as much now as she did the day she got it. 

She looks up at the school, absentmindedly running the tassel on the end of her keychain through her fingers and wondering what her class will be like this year. Wondering if they'll like fourth grade. Wondering if they'll like her. As she's having a brief moment to herself before entering the hustle and bustle that awaits her in the halls of Barden Elementary, she savors the last few sips of her coffee and watches as an unfamiliar figure dismounts her motorcycle and walks across the parking lot. She's short and slender, and as she removes her helmet, Chloe sees the woman's beautiful, wavy, dark brown hair fall just above the middle of her back. She’s wearing a leather jacket in the heat of August, but Chloe doesn’t question it because, well, she looks _really_ good in it. As Chloe watches her walk into the school through the staff entrance, she wonders who she might be and how she hasn't seen her before now at the summer staff meetings or pre-planning days. 

Chloe exits her car and makes her way to the school. She's intrigued by this new addition to the school faculty, and she makes a point to look for her when she arrives inside. She walks through the halls slowly, peering into classrooms in search of the mystery woman, but she still hasn't found her by the time she reaches her own classroom. She walks around her room making sure everything is in its place before the students start arriving for their first day of school. She’s chosen a sunflower theme for her classroom this year, and she couldn't be more excited about how it turned out. There's a sunflower border around the top of the walls, yellow name tags on each desk, and a reading nook in the corner called “the sunflower patch”. It’s stocked with countless books and the comfiest bean bag chairs that Target had to offer. The area is separated from the rest of the classroom by a small white picket fence that really sends the sunflower theme over the top. (Chloe gets really excited when she thinks about her students being the seeds and the books being the water, soil, and sun, helping them grow into fully-blossomed sunflowers, but she thinks other people will think she’s lame if she actually says that out loud, so she keeps that bit to herself). 

Chloe sits at her desk and looks out over the room, beaming with pride and brimming with anxiety. She busies her hands to try and calm some of her nerves by flipping through some papers that had been lying on her desk, but it doesn’t seem to be working, so she returns the papers to her desk. She doesn't have much time to let those fears fester, though, as three students come barreling through the door and begin looking for their seats. One of kids, a small, blonde-haired little girl that Chloe remembers from orientation, Maddie, runs up to her and wraps her lower half up into a hug that makes Chloe wonder why she was ever nervous in the first place. By the time the class settles in and it's time to begin, Chloe’s nerves are a thing of the past, and she's eager to start getting to know all 28 of her fresh-faced fourth graders.

* * *

The morning goes by quickly; Chloe has the kids play a few “getting to know you” games that are as much for her benefit as they are for the kids’, and they spend what her students would describe as “hours and hours” going over those dreaded first day of school forms. As Chloe walks her kids into the music room for their first day of music class, she comes face to face with (and nearly bumps into) the mystery woman from earlier in the day. Too surprised to speak, Chloe offers an embarrassed smile and walks through the door as she ushers the last of the students into the room. Chloe takes stock of the classroom: a guitar, a drum set, several sets of bongos and xylophones, and an upright piano. She walks along the edge of the classroom and examines the posters on the wall and a college degree hanging in one corner that reads: Beca Mitchell, Bachelor of Music. _So that’s her name_ , Chloe thinks. She does a headcount and gives Beca a smile and a nod as she leaves the room. 

When she returns to pick up her students, it’s not Beca who stands in front of the room but Mrs. Jones, the front desk clerk. As her students are lining up to go to recess, Chloe slips over to Mrs. Jones and whispers, “Where’s Miss Mitchell?”

“Oh she just ran to the restroom. She saw me walking up the hall and asked me to watch your class until she got back,” Mrs. Jones said with a look on her face that Chloe can’t quite identify. Mrs. Jones leans in closer and whispers, “She’s a strange girl, that Beca Mitchell. Doesn’t say much.” Chloe just smiles and nods her head. 

“Well I’ll take them from here. Thanks, Janice!” Chloe’s always liked Mrs. Jones. She was one of the first people to really make Chloe feel at home at Barden four years ago as a new teacher fresh out of college. Still, Chloe thinks Miss Mitchell deserves a little more time before people start forming their opinions about her. 

As the students run out onto the playground, Maddie hangs back beside Chloe. With a worried look on her face, she looks up at Chloe and says, “Miss Beale, I think I might have left my book bag in music.”

Chloe bends down to be on eye-level with Maddie and says in a reassuring tone, “Okay, don’t worry. It’s no big deal. You go play, and I’ll go pick it up from Miss Mitchell.”

Maddie gives Chloe her biggest and brightest smile, and she thinks she hears a quiet “thank you” as she watches Maddie run off toward the monkey bars. Chloe walks back down the hall toward the music room. When she arrives, the door is open, but she gives a small knock anyway and says “knock knock!” in true Chloe fashion. 

“Come in!” Beca yells, her head stuck in a closet and cymbals crashing around her. She slams the door shut and throws her back against it as if she’s narrowly escaped something that was chasing her. The sound of more things falling to the ground behind the closet door fills the room, and Beca’s expression looks like a mixture of embarrassment and amusement. She gives the closet door a little shove for good measure, and then looks up at Chloe and walks across the room to greet her, but Chloe speaks before she can say anything. 

“I didn’t get the chance to introduce myself earlier, I’m Chloe. Beale. Miss Beale. But you can just call me Chloe.” Chloe, the one who was awarded with ‘Most Outgoing’ as her high school superlative, has apparently picked today of all days to start being awkward. 

Beca chuckles and holds her hand out for Chloe to shake. “Beca.” she says with a half-smiling smirk, clearly amused by how flustered Chloe is. She takes Beca’s hand in hers and gives it a firm shake. She hopes her hand isn’t sweating. She starts to wonder why she would be nervous enough for her hands to be sweating, but she pushes that thought from her mind before it even fully enters. _There’s no reason you should be this nervous. Calm down_ , she thinks as she releases Beca’s hand. She doesn’t have a clue why she feels so nervous and awkward, but she chalks it up to leftover first day jitters.

Chloe’s silent for a moment, but she snaps quickly back into reality, remembering the reason she's there in the first place. 

“Have you seen a blue backpack with a dog on the front?” Chloe tries to get to the point to avoid any further embarrassment. 

“Oh yeah, I just put it at my desk to take to the front desk at the end of the day if no one came back to claim it.” Beca walks behind the desk and grabs the bag, handing it to Chloe. Chloe takes the bag and holds it against her body, hugging it in an effort to sort of hide herself, embarrassed at the first impression she’s making. 

“Well, thanks for saving this for me, I know Maddie will be relieved that I found it.” Chloe speed-walks out of the room and into the hall, mortified at her first interaction with the new teacher. 

“You’re welcome,” Chloe hears the girl call out behind her, but she’s halfway down the hall by then. She thinks about trying to avoid Beca until the end of time, but there’s something about the woman that beguiles her, drawing Chloe in and making her want to know more.

* * *

Chloe doesn’t even get a glimpse of Beca until six days later after school, but just because she hasn’t seen her doesn’t mean Chloe hasn’t heard about her. Beca Mitchell has been ‘the talk of the town’, so to speak, with teachers all over the school whispering about her in the halls. Everyone seems to have an opinion on Beca, many of the teachers thinking she’s “kind of a bitch” because she makes no effort to make friends with any of the other teachers. 

When Chloe does finally see Beca again, it’s because they’ve apparently both been assigned to bus duty, their job being to help students find their buses and keep things orderly. As she walks a first grade boy to his bus, Chloe sees Beca walk out of the school and onto the bus ramp, wandering around like some sort of lost puppy. Chloe strolls over to her with a wide grin on her face. 

“You look lost,” Chloe says with a laugh. 

“They said bus duty, but they didn’t exactly explain what bus duty entails.” Beca leans against the railing, wringing her hands together. Chloe can see that unlike the week before, now Beca’s the one who’s nervous. 

“It’s not hard, I promise. You just stand here and if a kid looks lost, you help them find where to go.” Beca nods, and it’s silent for a moment until Chloe speaks again. 

“So, I noticed that you got your degree out in California. How’d you end up all the way down here in Georgia?” Chloe decides that now is as good of a time as any to get to know her new co-worker.

Surprise flashes across Beca’s face when she hears the question, surprised and impressed that Chloe knew and remembered where she went to school, but most of the expression is hidden from Chloe under her sunglasses. “I’m actually originally from a town like thirty minutes from here. I got out of here as soon as I graduated, beyond ready to get to California and start paying my dues in the music world. For as long as I can remember I’ve wanted to be a music producer, so I got my degree in music from UCLA and graduated last year.” It’s the most she’s ever heard Beca say, and her answer just gives way to more questions from Chloe. 

“So what made you come back here if you want to be a music producer? It sounds like you were well on your way to possibly making that happen, and California seems like a great place to work. And how’d you end up teaching? And at Barden of all places?” Chloe can feel herself getting carried away with all the questions, but as a naturally inquisitive person, it’s hard for her to stop once the questions start flowing. 

She’s trying to break the ice with what she thinks are harmless questions, but the answer is deeper than surface level for Beca. Chloe senses her hesitation, but she does eventually answer. 

“Well, I had an interview with a label a little over a month ago, and it went really well. We set up another interview for a week later, and everything was moving in the right direction until I got a call from my mom the night before the second interview. She’s been diagnosed with stage three ovarian cancer, so I dropped everything and came back. I called the label and told them I wasn’t interested in the job, found someone to take over my lease, and got back to Georgia less than a week after she called. She’s kind of all I have, so it was really a no-brainer for me to come back and take care of her. I saw a posting online about Barden Elementary needing a music teacher, and it seemed like the only job I was going to find around here that was even slightly related to my field of study. I called Principal Caldwell the next morning, and here I am.”

Beca stares at the ground as she talks, her eyes focused on the dirt she’s moving back and forth with her shoe. As she finished her story, she looks up from the ground, and gives Chloe a small smile. It’s not exactly a happy story, though, and Chloe can hear the disappointment in her voice---disappointment she can only assume comes from having to put your dream job (and basically your whole life) on hold, but even more so from finding out that your mom is sick. Chloe’s at a loss for words, never expecting that her seemingly-innocent questions could warrant such emotionally-charged answers.

“I’m really sorry about your mom,” the only words Chloe can think of finally falling from her mouth after several beats of silence. She looks at Beca with the most sincere look she can muster, silently praying that Beca understands that her heart aches for her even after only knowing her for such a short period of time. She thinks Beca understands, but she can’t get a full read on her face because of the sunglasses hiding Beca’s eyes from view.

“It’s okay. She’s working with some really great doctors up in Atlanta, and her treatment plan is really intense. They think they caught it just in time, and they’re really optimistic about her recovery,” Beca responds, a genuine smile on her face this time. “She’s the most stubborn person I know. She didn’t even want me to move back here to take care of her, so I’m living in my own apartment like ten minutes from the school, and I just go to doctors appointments with her when she needs me and take care of her after her treatments. It’s all been going pretty smoothly so far.”

“That’s so great! I--,” Chloe’s eyes widen suddenly as she’s interrupted by the sight of a bus pulling away from the school while a small boy runs behind it trying desperately to catch up. Chloe jumps into action and flags down the bus driver. In all of the commotion, the little boy’s glasses had fallen off, so Chloe walks over and returns them to his face while giving him an impromptu pep talk. She rustles the thick brown hair atop his head, and escorts him safely to the bus.

As she walks back to where they had previously been standing, Chloe watches Beca read the bus pass of the very last student in sight and help her onto the correct bus. “See? I told you bus duty isn’t that hard,” she teases as she approaches. 

“Yeah, I guess it’s not so bad after all,” Beca says as she looks around with one hand on her hip and the other shading her face from the sun, the sunglasses not quite doing the trick. Her eyes flicker over the parking lot searching for stragglers but finding none. “So that’s it?”

“Yep! As soon as the kids are gone we’re done.” The two turn on their heels simultaneously and walk back into the school together.

When they reach the hallway where they have to go their separate ways, Beca clears her throat and says, “So see you and the kids tomorrow for music?”

Chloe turns and looks back at Beca as she paces backwards down the hallway toward her classroom. “Wouldn’t miss it,” she says with a wink. She turns around and walks into her room, shutting the door behind her. _Nope. Not a bitch at all. Not even close_ , she thinks as she sits down at her desk with a smile spread wide across her face.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the weeks have gone by, their friendship has grown, and Beca and Chloe have developed a full-fledged friendship.

Chloe’s students have already decided that Friday is their favorite day of the week after only three months of school. It’s the day for show-and-tell, the day the cafeteria serves double cheese pizza _and_ chocolate pudding cups, and the day that Chloe sets up an activity or demonstration for the science portion of class. 

Today’s lesson is on fossils. Chloe takes her job of molding the minds of nine year olds very seriously, and she loves it when she can make them excited about learning. While the students are at lunch, Chloe sets a small fish tank full of sand and “fossils” in the middle of each table. The kids will get to dig through the sand for fossils and try to identify what kind of animal the fossil might’ve come from. 

After hiding the last fossil, she moves on to the activity she’s most excited for. Chloe opens her closet and retrieves a small plastic swimming pool and sets it in the center of the room. She empties the contents of a bag of sand into the pool and then fills it with various bones that will create a full dinosaur skeleton when reassembled. Each student will dig until they find a bone, keep it on their desk until the end of class, and, with Chloe’s help of course, complete the skeleton reconstruction. 

The lesson goes off without a hitch. The kids were overjoyed when they returned from lunch and saw the setup that filled the classroom. When the first few students entered the room, there were gasps and whispers amongst them, but the noise started to grow as the rest of the students filed into the room and filled the room with curious excitement. The noise level grew so loud that it took Chloe four full minutes to get them quiet enough to explain the instructions of the lesson. 

They loved excavating in the small tanks, and they loved digging through the large tank to reconstruct the Tyrannosaurus Rex model even more. Chloe leaned back against her desk and watched the students work; though most of the class began the lesson loud and disruptive, ten minutes in, almost every student was quietly working, enraptured by the items in front of them, with the exception of a few “ooh”s and “ah”s here and there. She could almost see the wheels turning in their heads as they uncovered different bones and tried to match them to the pictures on the guide in the front of the room. 

Chloe holds back a small laugh as she watches Barron, a tall and lanky boy from the back of the classroom, almost fall from his seat when he jumps up (slightly too enthusiastically) to retrieve a fossil. She’s equal parts amused and concerned as she watches him, but the amusement wins when he keeps his balance and prevents himself from falling.

While the students clean up their areas and wash their hands, a small boy whose hair color is almost identical to Chloe’s bright red hair raises his hand. He waves his hand around frantically until he catches Chloe’s eye, his face practically exploding with excitement. 

“Yes, Max?” Chloe asks, wondering what question could be quite so important. 

“Do you think we could name that dino, Miss Beale?” Max says as he jumps up from his seat and points over at the model standing on the table at the front of the room. 

“Well, I don’t see why not. Anyone got any suggestions for the name?”

Students shout out names all across the room that range from Alfred to Sparky to Terry (Chloe’s personal favorite). When the class can’t come anywhere close to a consensus, Chloe finally says, “Let’s decide when we get back from music. We don’t want to keep Miss Mitchell waiting, now do we?”

Then, all of a sudden, Chloe hears a gasp from somewhere in the middle of the room, and a small boy named Brody shouts, “Let’s name it Mitchell! Like Miss Mitchell!!”

Cheers erupt from all around the classroom, and it seems like the decision has been made unanimously. Chloe bites the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing. She gets the students lined up, and they make their way down the hall to the music room. Chloe has to admit, the name makes sense. The other reason her class loves Fridays so much, maybe the most important reason of all, is because they get to go to Miss Mitchell’s music class.

* * *

When they arrive, the room is set up with two separate stations. There are four xylophones on one side of the room, and four sets of hand drums on the other side. The kids are visibly excited when they see what Miss Mitchell has in store for them. Beca isn’t in the room yet, so Chloe has them all sit down in their seats to wait for her. Instead of dropping the kids off at music and going back to her classroom to grade last night’s homework, she decides to stick around and takes a seat behind Beca’s desk.

When Beca enters, the room is abuzz with chatter and excitement, the class still feeding off of the high of the science lesson. She sees Chloe sitting behind her desk and cocks one eyebrow as if to say, “what are you doing here?”, but Chloe just gives her a smug smile and keeps her seat. Beca begins the class by explaining how to use the xylophones and drums and their activities for the day. She watches as Beca teaches the kids a clapping beat for them to clap to when it’s not their turn with the instruments. 

The class doesn’t hold her attention long, though, as Chloe is distracted by the photo on Beca’s desk. It’s a picture of Beca and an older woman who couldn’t possibly be anyone other than her mom. The resemblance between the two of them is uncanny even though the picture looks to be quite a few years old. She looks around and takes in the other objects on Beca’s desk: a pen cup with the Fender logo on the front, a pair of top-of-the-line headphones, and her laptop among other things. She runs her hand over the thin black notebook sitting on the corner of the desk; it’s sleek and simple yet intriguing and mysterious. In a metaphorical sense, it’s a lot like Beca, and Chloe wonders what’s inside.

Chloe snaps back into reality when one of her students gets overly ambitious and attempts a drum solo. She watches how Beca handles the class with ease and how much fun they all look to be having. She can’t believe teaching wasn’t Beca’s first choice for a career; she’s a natural with the kids, and it’s obvious how much they all love her. Chloe just sits and observes, in awe of how Beca interacts with each student, for the rest of the class period. 

When it’s time to go, the students line up at the door and impatiently await Chloe’s instructions to head to recess. They all exit the room, and begin their journey to the fourth grade playground. 

“Walk with us?” Chloe asks Beca, knowing hers is the last class Beca has for the day. Beca just nods, grabs her coat, and joins her wordlessly as they all walk outside together. The two sit down on the steps of the school that lead out to the playground and sit in silence for a few moments while they watch the swingsets, monkey bars, and jungle gyms fill with laughing children. It’s November in Georgia, and while it’s not a Chicago or New York type of cold, Chloe can see her breath and feel herself starting to shiver.

Beca scoots closer to Chloe so that the sides of their bodies are touching, and Chloe can feel the warmth from Beca’s body immediately. She fishes a pair of gloves from the pocket of her jacket and hands them to Chloe who graciously accepts.

“Oh my gosh, thank you. I owe you one,” Chloe exclaims as she stuffs her fingers into the gloves. To her surprise, when her hands enter the gloves, she feels heat radiating from the hand-warming packets that are inside, and the warmth starts at the tips of her fingers and washes up her arms like a red-hot heat wave.

“You know, you’re not wrong. It didn’t get half as cold as this in LA, and I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to it again,” Beca says as she scowls at nothing in particular.

“Don’t be so dramatic, Becs. That’s my job.” Chloe nudges Beca’s shoulder with her own. They’ve only known each other for a little over three months, but somehow spending time together at Thursday bus duty and before and after music class on Fridays turned into sitting together at every Tuesday staff meeting, spending their lunch periods together at least twice a week, texting each other funny things the kids say, and basically a full-fledged friendship. 

Chloe would be lying if she said she didn’t love it. She’s never had a friend at school before. Chloe learned early in her teaching career that it’s not easy making friends with the other teachers. It’s partly because everyone already had their own friend groups before Chloe came into the picture, but mainly because over half of the teachers at Barden Elementary have been teaching for what seems like half a century and would rather talk bad about new teachers than get to know them, (and frankly that’s just not Chloe’s cup of tea). She decided the very first month of her teaching career that she’d rather be alone or have her only friend be Mrs. Jones from the front office than try and forge fake friendships with snooty teachers.

But with Beca, things are different. Maybe it’s that they’re so close in age or that they actually have things in common, but Beca seems to just _get_ her, and Chloe feels more at home at Barden than she ever has. It’s ironic, Chloe thinks, that a new teacher could make her feel more welcome than any of those other teachers ever did.

“Oh, guess what happened in class today,” Chloe says as she runs her toasty, warm fingers through her long, red hair.

“What?”

“Brody Mayfield named a dinosaur after you,” Chloe says while trying to keep as much of a straight face as she can manage.

“Excuse me, what?” The look on Beca’s face is a mixture of laughter and confusion.

“Get with the program, Becs! His name is Mitchell, He’s our class T-Rex, and he’s named for our esteemed ‘Miss Mitchell’. Come by my room after school, and I’ll introduce you to him.”

“Well, how could I say no to that?” Beca laughs, still seemingly confused about a dinosaur’s name being an eponym of her own, but intrigued nonetheless. As recess ends and the kids head back to their respective classrooms, Beca departs and heads back to the music room.

* * *

At precisely 3:04 pm, her last student sprints out of the room towards the bus ramp, and seconds later Beca enters the room.

“What’s up, Chlo? I’m ready to see my namesake,” Beca says as she breezes through the door.

“Okay! Let me grab him from my storage closet. I had to put him in there when we got back from recess because the class wouldn’t pay attention to anything other than our little Mitchell long enough for us to do our end of the day activities.”

Chloe walks across the room and into the closet and after just a few moments, Beca comes in behind her and shuts the door. Chloe turns around to face her, puzzled as to why Beca would be cramming herself into a closet with Chloe that’s barely big enough for one person to stand in. 

“What are you doing?” Chloe asks, their faces almost touching. Beca clasps her hand over Chloe’s mouth before she can finish getting the last word out of her mouth, and puts a finger to her own lips to shush Chloe.

“I’m hiding from Nash Daniel. He’s a second grader, and he _loves_ me. I spend the majority of our music class trying to pry him off of my legs or out of my lap or trying to make him stop talking. Don’t get me wrong, I love the kid, and he’s really sweet, but I cannot get into that right now,” Beca’s whispers quickly, her words barely audible. Chloe’s gaze shifts from Beca’s eyes to her lips, watching them as she speaks. She tells herself it’s for no other reason than the fact that Beca is speaking so quietly and she needs to read her lips.

The pace of Chloe’s heart accelerates as if they really are doing something they shouldn’t be instead of something as innocent as hiding from a student. If that can, in fact, be considered innocent. Heart thudding against her cardigan, she briefly wonders if it’s become loud enough for Beca to hear.

Beca cracks the door open wide enough to stick her head out and look around. With the coast being clear in the classroom, she ventures out into the room and peers down the hallway. From inside the closet, Chloe hears her say, still speaking in a loud whisper, “Okay it’s safe.” Chloe exits the closet with Mitchell in hand.

“So that’s him? Are we really sure I’m cool enough to have a dinosaur named after me? I think these kids might come to find out that they need to reconsider as the year goes on,” Beca jokes. 

“Are you kidding?? I think the real question is, is this dinosaur cool enough to be named after _you_? Because I consider you rather cool, myself.” 

Chloe cringes as soon as the words leave her mouth, not being able to think of a single thing lamer than what she just said. It doesn’t matter though because it makes Beca laugh. “Well, thanks then. I’m glad I’ve got one person at this school convinced I’m cool,” she says as she laughs.

The two sit behind Chloe’s desk for a while, talking and laughing while Chloe shows Beca some of the kids’ work and art projects. Beca even helps Chloe grade the tests and homework she’s been putting off grading while they watch Netflix on the Smart Board. The rest of the day passes in the blink of an eye, and neither realize how late it’s gotten until Beca looks at her watch and stands up from her seat.

“I should get going. It’s almost seven, and my mom had treatment yesterday, so I’m going to go grab us some dinner and spend the weekend with her. She’s pretty weak after her treatments, so I want to go over there and do whatever she needs to get done around the house.” A sad smile fills the woman’s face, and Chloe wishes there was something she could do to make all of this hurt less for Beca. They both get up and start gathering their things, Chloe deciding it’s past time for her to be getting home as well. Not that she has a date with anyone other than her cat, her couch, a glass of wine, and the hours worth of binge-worthy tv she’s got recorded on her DVR.

Nevertheless, they both pack up their bags and head out the door, the hallway becoming nearly completely dark when Chloe flips off the lights to her classroom and shuts the door on their way out.

They make it out to their cars safely, the rumored monsters that occupy the dark and shadowy corridors of the empty elementary school building leaving them be for tonight, and they stand outside Chloe’s car for a few moments.

“Have fun with your mom this weekend. I hope she gets to feeling better really soon,” Chloe says as she takes Beca’s hand in her own. Physical contact has always been the way she expresses her emotions and relates to other people, even strangers sometimes, so it’s just automatic to do the same with her friend. “If you need anything just text me, and I’m all over it.”

“Ah, she’ll be alright. She’s a tough cookie. Actually probably the toughest cookie I know.” Beca smiles and thanks Chloe as she walks the few feet to her motorcycle and straddles the bike. Beca slips her helmet over her head and starts the engine. She rides over to Chloe’s window and removes her helmet, her face saying that she mistakenly left something unsaid. Chloe rolls down her window, and Beca speaks immediately.

“Okay, remember when you said earlier that you owe me? For the gloves and whatnot.” Beca says, nervous for some reason.

“Yes, of course. That was like five hours ago,” Chloe teases, “why, what’s up?”

“Okay, well, I have this new entertainment center and bed frame for my apartment, and I’ve tried putting them together by myself, but it’s really more of a two person job. Normally I would just ask my mom to help, but she’s not really up for it these days, and I don’t re—”

“Of course I’ll help! I may not look like it, but I know my way around a tool belt,” Chloe says, interrupting Beca before she can even get to the question.

“Thank you so much, Chlo. Is next weekend good? My mom will definitely be feeling better by then.”

“Next weekend is perfect,” Chloe says with a smile. 

“Good. I’ll be looking forward to it.” Beca smiles and nods her head, slipping her helmet back on without another word. She revs the engine and drives away, and Chloe watches her exit the parking lot in her rear-view mirror. 

She spends the car ride home engrossed in thought. Thinking about how she’s the one Beca asked to help her and not any of her other friends. Wondering if this means they’re _real_ friends now and not just work friends. Thinking about what Beca’s apartment might look like. She doesn’t have the answers to any of those questions, but that won’t stop her from thinking about them for the next week.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i love beca and chloe so much????? they're so soft and cute and you can pry this au from my cold, dead hands
> 
> a giant thank you to kyra (tumblr user @megannfox) for proofing this chapter for me. you are truly the best and ilysm


End file.
